


The Memories

by ObsessedHuman565



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: But seriously Undyne sucks, Everyone Has Issues, Female Frisk (Undertale), Frisk (Undertale) Is a Sweetheart, Good Chara (Undertale), M/M, Male Chara (Undertale), Papyrus (Undertale) Knows More Than He Lets On, Papyrus (Undertale) Remembers Resets, Papyrus and Sans Are Not Related (Undertale), Sans is Not Okay (Undertale), Sans is a Mess (Undertale), Slow Burn, Undyne (Undertale) is a jerk, W. D. Gaster Being An Asshole, W. D. Gaster Is Not Related to Papyrus and Sans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 9,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29350158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsessedHuman565/pseuds/ObsessedHuman565
Summary: Sans is a slightly self-centered idiot who remembers (most) resets.Papyrus is a wreck who is hiding his knowledge and can code memories.What could go wrong?
Relationships: Papyrus/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

K, so. I'll start this off by (sort of) explaining the general characters and timelines, etc. But first..

W.D. Gaster  _ created _ Paps and Sans. They were experiments gone right (Gaster would beg to differ. He hates them (especially Sans) with a passion). Therefore, they are not related by blood. Just friends.   
Also, All characters are sorta adjusted for the AU, so yeah. Don’t go in expecting much.

So, I’ll start with timelines.   
Pacifist timelines have happened, but  _ never _ when the PLAYER was in control. Genocides, Neutrals, HorrorTale, DustTale, Disbelief, Dustbelief, ones where Papyrus goes insane… They’ve seen a lot, regardless of how much they remember. 

Now characters.

  
Papyrus edits one single being in the code files. That being would be a certain short, lazy, confusing, slightly self-centered skeleton monster.    
He doesn’t delete much from Sans’ memories. Only the timelines where he snaps. Snapping could mean many things, from a slight slip-up to killing everyone in the Underground.   
That might make him paranoid, and that may make him hate everything. But the thing that is most important to him is that his brother remains unburdened by Papyrus’ knowledge.

Sans is a bit dramatic. He hasn’t even considered the idea that someone other than him (besides Frisk and Chara) could remember resets.

He has begun to partially neglect his brother, developing a woe-is-me attitude.

If only he knew what lengths Papyrus went to keep him from falling into depression.

Alphys and Papyrus slowly began to hang out with each other. She ended up being his therapist-like friend. 

At some point, she began remembering bits and pieces of timelines. Not even Papyrus knows why.   
  
Flowey was always Paps’ best friend. Once it was discovered that Papyrus remembered timelines, their friendship evolved into a sort of family.   
Alphys, Flowey, and Papyrus became a dysfunctional trio (occasionally joined by the Horror bros).

Undyne’s just an abusive asshole of a fish.

Okay, that should be it for now- Damn. Also, Frisk and Chara are awesome humans, PLAYER just fuckin sucks.


	2. Acting.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of background, etc. etc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a few suicide bits and alcohol bits, so be warned.

Papyrus had always remembered.

He didn’t mean to, and he definitely didn’t want to. It was just a fact. He had no control over it. He couldn’t even access his own code. 

He hated what he had done. In timelines, he was either faking or insane. If he had let Sans remember, he would never be forgiven. Never forgiven for pretending, and certainly not for the murders, no matter how hypocritical that was. After all, there were plenty of timelines where Sans went insane, murdering humans, monsters, going as far as killing his own brother.

The thing he would definitely hate was the suicide runs. The ones where Papyrus gave up. Hung himself; jumped off a building; stabbed himself in the SOUL. If anyone checked his SOUL in those times, they would read the following:

*Papyrus no longer believes in himself.

It was true. Still true. Papyrus lost faith, not just in himself, but everything. His sanity was deteriorating. He couldn’t look at something, without flashbacks to what it looked like, covered in dust. Couldn’t look at someone without flashbacks to how their dust felt in his hands.

And don’t get him started on Sans. Sans was an entirely different thing. When looking at Sans, he felt many things. Fear, pain, anger, sadness, joy. It was overwhelming. Especially because there, in the back of his mind, he felt love for him. There was one timeline, just one, where that relationship happened. Of course, there was a RESET, and Papyrus deleted it from Sans’ memories. He couldn’t bear the sad, desperate looks Sans would give him as he remembered a love that, in his knowledge, was destroyed, forgotten due to the RESET. 

Papyrus loved him, and remembered that timeline fondly. That timeline, everything was perfect.. They were on the surface, the humans got used to them, and life was good. All of which was ruined by the PLAYER, but Papyrus wasn’t surprised. He was expecting it. Nothing lasts forever, not in his world. 

“SANS, YOU LAZYBONES! GET UP!! WE MAY CATCH A HUMAN TODAY!” He shouted up the stairs. He knew they wouldn’t catch one. RESETs usually put them back a week or so before Frisk fell. Still, this line was part of the script, something he was expected to say. After all, he was an actor, a side character.

“Yep, yep. I’m up. Hey, Paps.” Sans teleported downstairs in a flash of blue light, opening one of the cabinets in the kitchen to get a bottle of ketchup.

“YOU NEED TO STOP WAKING UP SO LATE. WHAT IF YOU AREN’T AT YOUR SENTRY POST AND A HUMAN FALLS? WE WOULD MISS OUR OPPORTUNITY TO PREPARE THEM FOR PUZZLES!” He put a fake frown on his face, acting displeased with Sans’ behavior, even though he wished he could fall into the shorter one’s habits.

“Aight. I’ll be at my post, k Paps?” 

“DO NOT FALL ASLEEP AGAIN.”

“M’kay.” Sans vanished again, leaving Papyrus alone to let his face drop into a blank expression. 

He debated going to Alphys’ lab, but decided it was probably too early. Instead, he walked into the back of Grillby’s, knocking on the fire exit door. He had come here, even before the RESETS. Usually he got food, but some of the time his selections weren’t that innocent.

After hearing the knock on the back door, Grillby walked into the back, staring at Papyrus. “What’ll it be?”

“Hard whiskey?”

“That bad?”

“Usually.”


	3. The Pathetic Papyrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Undyne's being an ass again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of verbal abuse. Also, normally I won't update this often, but need to give some context, some interaction, etc. first.

“So the trash bag is at his post now?”   
  
“A-Asri-riel, don’t call h-him that.” Alphys stuttered, glancing over at Papyrus, who was laying on the cold tile floor, now glaring at the small flower.   
  
“He’s been neglecting Papyrus for 48 timelines now! He deserves the title.” The flower complained, knowing Papyrus would never admit it.   
  
“It’s not neglect. He’s trying to help, I know it.” The skeleton said, annoyed.   
  
“And ‘helping’ includes falling into depression?”   
  
“A-Asriel!!! St-Stop! Drop it. P-Paps is cl-clearly unco-comfortable.” Alphys interjected before an angry skeleton became a violent skeleton.   
  
“Tch. Fine. You know I’m right, though.”    
  
Papyrus bristled. “You are nothing of the sort.”   
  
If someone were to look at the scene from afar, they would see a yellow dinosaur sitting next to her computer, increasingly nervous. They would also witness a living skeleton and buttercup having an aggressive staredown.   
  
Flowey sighed, relaxing slightly. “Alright. But remember, I feel everything you feel. If I ever feel even a hint of heartbreak, I’ll call him as many names as I want. Deal?”   
  
“Ugh. Fine. Deal.”   
  
Flowey did, in fact, feel everything Papyrus felt. Without knowing the real reason, people would assume it was figurative, that Flowey was just really good at reading the ‘excitable’ skeleton. Which is wrong. You see, Papyrus split his soul in half. Half went to Flowey, half went to Papyrus. It was one of the reasons he was so w̶e̶a̶k̶ careful.    
  
Alphys glanced at her computer. “P-PAPYRUS!!!”   
  
Papyrus was startled from his thoughts. “Ngh?”   
  
“I-It’s 1:00. You have t-tr-training with U-Undyne..” Alphys always hated to be the bearer of bad news.   
  
“Oh.”   
  
There was a moment of silence.   
  
Flowey finally spoke. “I’m coming with you. If she tries shit, I’ll personally kill her.”   
  
“You don’t need to do that.”   
  
“You forget I felt the flash of relief. You want me to come with you.”   
  
“...Fine.”   
  


  
  
When Papyrus reached Undyne’s house, he saw a flash of yellow appear a bit into the forest. He smiled, relaxing slightly.    
  
The sense of security went away as he heard the first few notes of Undyne’s theme. He quickly teleported forward, turning around to ready himself for the next attack. Undyne attempted to hit him with a spear, and the skeleton ducked, summoning sharp bones and sending them towards Undyne. She blocked most of them with a spear, but one hit her in the thigh.. She fell to her knees.   
  
“YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO HIT ME!” Undyne shrieked at him, enraged.    
  
Papyrus swallowed everything he wanted to say. “I-I’M SO SORRY UNDYNE! I DIDN’T MEAN TO!”   
  
“BULLSHIT! YOU SUMMONED SHARP BONES, NOT DULL ONES! NOW STOP BEING PATHETIC AND HEAL ME!”   
  
“Y-YES, OF COURSE.” Papyrus desummoned the bone and walked over to Undyne, preparing for whatever she was going to do next. He crouched, cupping his hand over Undyne’s thigh.   
  
“You’re such a fucking idiot. You’ll never get into the royal guard at this rate.”   
  
Papyrus cringed. Although he had given up on that dream long ago, it still hurt. “O-OF COURSE. I’LL TRY HARDER. I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AFTER ALL.”   
  
“More like the pathetic Papyrus.”   
  
Papyrus glanced at the forest, and saw Flowey, far closer, looking at him, a question in his eyes. Papyrus shook his head slightly, and Flowey nodded, vanishing back into the ground.


	4. Nothing to get worked up about..

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a lil fluff.

After being threatened by a certain fish and shopping for ingredients to make spaghetti, Papyrus walked home, flinching every now and again due to a small injury caused by a certain spear. When he entered the house, he plastered a forced grin onto his face.   
  
“‘Sup?” Sans was on the couch, flipping through channels on the TV.   
  
“YOU WEREN’T AT YOUR STATION WHEN I CHECKED ON YOU!” This was, in fact, not true. Papyrus hadn’t even checked the station, but he knew Sans well enough to know he spent most of today on the couch having nightmares.   
  
“Sorry, Paps.”    
  
“WHAT IF A HUMAN WERE TO ARRIVE?! WE WOULD’VE MISSED THEM AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD BE UNABLE TO CATCH THEM!!” Papyrus leaned into his dramatic side, stomping his foot.   
  
“A human probably won’t fall.”   
  
“BUT WHAT IF ONE DOES?? I WANT TO BE THE ONE TO CAPTURE THEM! UNDYNE WOULD BE SO IMPRESSED SHE’D HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO LET ME JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!”   
  
“‘Course. Sorry. I’ll keep an eye socket out for ‘em, ‘kay?”

“YOU BETTER! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND I REFUSE TO LET THE SECOND GREATEST, SANS, PREVENT ME FROM PROVING MY GREATNESS!”   
  
“Aww, ya really think I’m second-greatest?” Sans’ cheekbones had a small dusting of blue on them, and he looked up at Papyrus.

“BUT OF COURSE! YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND AFTER ALL.” They both internally flinched at the title.   
  
“Thanks, Paps.”   
  
“YOU ARE WELCOME. TODAY WAS A LONG DAY OF TRAINING WITH UNDYNE, SO I WILL BE GOING TO SLEEP.”   
  
Sans startled. This wasn’t part of the script. “W-Want me to read to ya?”   
  
“OF COURSE.” Papyrus no longer had to fake his wide grin. Sans reading to him was his favorite part of the day, even now. It reminded him that Sans did, in fact, care about him.   
  
“The usual?” Sans asked after Papyrus had gotten comfortable. In order to read, Sans would usually sit in the chair near the desk, but he now sat in the bed next to the younger one.   
  
“YES!!”

“Alright. Once upon a time, in a forest, there lived a small bunny…”   
  
By the end, Sans was trapped in his brother’s grip around his waist. Papyrus was ‘asleep’, and Sans gave up after a bit of struggling and scooted under the covers to sleep next to him. 

  
As he was falling asleep, he heard Papyrus mumble. “I love you, Sans.”   
  
Sans inhaled sharply. He couldn’t possibly mean… No, of course. He had been falling asleep, he probably imagined it. No reason to get worked up about a figment of his own imagination, right?   
  
Once he fell asleep, Papyrus gently kissed the smaller one’s forehead and drifted into sleep.   
  
And, for the first time since that perfect timeline, neither of them had nightmares.


	5. Fuck.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title says it all. (not in that way. Get your mind out of the gutter!)

The next day, Papyrus woke up before Sans and immediately realized the night before was a mistake. His room, one of the only places he could stop acting, was now invaded by Sans. He couldn’t do anything about it.  
  
He eventually teleported off the bed, stood up, and did his morning routine, sans (pun intended) the crying in the closet. Finally, he sat down at the computer and opened up the chat forum and put in his username and password. He immediately saw that ‘Science_Lizard’ had sent a friend request.  
  
He accepted, and immediately DMed her.  
  
 **Hey Alphys. What’re you doing?-**

**-Oh! Hey, Paps. Nothing much.**   
  


There was a pause.  
  


 **-Well… I am feeding THEM, but** **  
****I’m nearly done.** **  
****Wanna have some hamburgers?-** **  
**Fries?-** **

**-Hm. I’ll have fries.** **  
****-I’ll get Asriel.** **  
****You know he doesn’t like being-  
****called that.** **  
****-...Yeah. I know.**

Papyrus hears a shift behind him.  
  


**Gtg. Sans is waking up.-**

**-See you later then!**

He quickly shuts off the computer and pretends he was organizing something behind the desk.  
  
“Oh.” Sans yawns. “Mornin’ Papyrus.”  
  
A pause. A few deep breaths. Papyrus stands up, turning to Sans with a look of false exasperation. “DO NOT ‘MORNING’ ME, SANS! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE UP A HALF HOUR AGO!” That much was true.  
  
“Sorry, Paps. I’ll get up on time tomorrow.”  
  


“YOU BETTER! I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO IF WE MISSED A HUMAN BECAUSE OF YOUR LAZINESS!”  
  
“Wait, why didn’t ya just wake me up?” Sans tilted his head, a look of mild confusion of his face. 

_Because I wanted you to enjoy peace for a while before everything goes to shit in three days. Be grateful._ “WELL, I THOUGHT THAT IF I LET YOU SLEEP IN, YOU WOULDN’T FALL ASLEEP AT YOUR POST!”  
  
“Ah. Smart.”  
  


“I KNOW!” He didn’t. It was just the first (kind) excuse he came up with.

  
“Anyway, I’ll cya later, k? Gotta watch for humans and all that.”  
  


“OF COURSE! AND SANS?”  
  
“Yea?”

“DON’T GO TO GRILLBY’S. THAT IS UNHEALTHY AND UNPRODUCTIVE.” Papyrus nearly laughed at the hypocrisy. The reason why he didn’t want Sans at Grillby’s was simple: He didn’t want to get caught.  
  
“Mkay, mkay.”

Grillby knew of Papyrus’ situation. He had even promised to never tell Sans unless absolutely necessary. So, when Papyrus knocked on the door (after Alphys came and Flowey was put in a pot), Grillby didn’t open it. Reason? Sans was at the bar.  
  
Papyrus heard a muffled conversation. “Who’s knockin’ on your door, Grillbs?”  
  
“Probably no one.”  
  
“C’mon, don’t ya wanna check?” The skeleton’s voice grew slightly nearer and Alphys took a step back, making sure not to drop Flowey in her panic.

“No.”

“Where’s your curiosity?” The voice was VERY close, and the tall skeleton ducked into a storage room. Alphys followed him, bearing the flower. 

Even Flowey was nervous. He kept mumbling ‘fuckfuckfuckfuck’ under his breath.  
  
When the fire exit opened and Sans’ footsteps entered the hallway, the other three went silent, hiding together in a corner.

“Where are you? I’m not gonna hurt ya.” The footsteps grew closer. 

They saw Sans through some of the shelves, making his way towards them. Papyrus debated teleporting, but realized that only the skeletons could teleport, therefore bringing suspicion to him. He looked at Alphys and Flowey, and opted to teleport the other two to her lab. Now for himself. _What to do, what to do, what to-_  
  
“W h a t?” Papyrus slowly looked up at Sans, more scared than ashamed. Grillby was standing in the doorway, now mildly terrified of what would happen next.


	6. Great.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hehehe.

This was one of the times Papyrus really, really missed the perfect timeline. So much it hurt his SOUL. Speaking of, Flowey was going to be pissed about that.

In the perfect timeline, this never would’ve happened. Undyne laid off a bit, Sans confessed, nobody died, the humans were used to them. He had no reason to go to Grillby’s (other than to have a drink with the fire elemental every now and again to catch up).

Of course, it wasn’t that timeline, and this, unfortunately, was happening.

“Care to explain why you’re here?” Sans glared down at the younger of the two skeletons.

“W-We-” Papyrus cleared his throat, trying to come up with a lie good enough to explain this. “WELL, I WAS WONDERING WHY YOU LIKE IT HERE SO MUCH, SO I WAS PLANNING ON TRYING THE FRIES. I CAME IN THROUGH THE BACK ENTRANCE DUE TO THE RISK OF HARMING MY PRISTINE REPUTATION!” 

He, in fact, didn’t have a pristine reputation. Everyone either thought of him as ‘Sans’ brother’ or ‘that one narcissistic dude’. Or, of course, ‘the pathetic Papyrus. All except Sans (who thought of him as his reason to live), Alphys, and Flowey (who thought of him as a friend.)

“Doesn’t explain why you hid from me.” Sans was unconvinced, much to Papyrus’ dismay...

...Because he hadn’t thought that far. “W-WELL.. ERM..”

“Exactly. Grillbz!!!” Grillby had been trying to edge away (the bastard).

“Y.. Yes, Sans?” He froze, adjusting his glasses.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“He didn’t want me to. I keep the word of my best cli...en…” He realized halfway through the word that it was screwing everyone over more.

“BEST CLIENT?!” Papyrus cringed. Sans didn’t raise his voice often, but when he did, there was hell to pay. 

“I… need to go serve more orders.” The asshole LEFT HIM.

“Papyrus.”

“...SANS.”

“What. The. Hell.” He looked at Papyrus, and the taller one could swear that he saw a small flicker of blue. He couldn’t blame him for being on the defense; his entire reality was crumbling.

“I- There’s- There’s an explanation. Please calm down.” Subconsciously, he shrunk slightly. He’s seen what Sans could do, even accidentally. An accident was how he died, in one of the timelines. Not that Sans remembered.

Sans froze slightly, noticing the slight change. His best friend.. Was scared of him? “H-Hey, hey, calm down. I’m n-not gonna hurt ya or anything.” He sat down so he wasn’t in such an intimidating position.

“O-Of course you won’t! We’re.. Best…” He saw Sans’ expression. He wasn’t buying his act anymore.

“You looked scared of me. Care to explain why?”

 _No, no, I would not care to explain._ He said in his head… or, at least, thought he said in his head.

“E-Excuse me?” Annnd his eyelights were gone. Great. Fucking great. Wasn’t that just swell?

“E-Erm.. Fuck.” Wow, Papyrus was digging his own grave at this point.

“What did you just say?”

“I’m in danger.” Still digging.

“What? Paps, I would NEVER hurt you!” Sans now looked very, very concerned.

“Not purposefully.” Asgore should’ve hired him to bury the childrens’ coffins.

“Paps, what is going on?”

He didn’t know, really. It was as if letting one comment slip stole his filter. _I’m not getting out of this until the next timeline, am I?_  
 _…_  
 _Might as well keep screwing myself over until then._


	7. [insert good chapter name here]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus has given up on acting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I- That's- Sorta long- Whoops-

Papyrus mulled over the question, but there wasn’t an answer, really. “No clue. I think you scared me enough to the point where my amazing acting skills vanished into thin air.” His acting was the only thing he took pride in. Flowey hadn’t realized the taller had remembered until he admitted it.

“A-Acting?” Sans _really_ looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Papyrus nearly felt bad for him, but remembered the timelines and timelines of… he admitted it. Neglect, bordering on narcissism.   
  
He swallowed. “Yeah, your entire world is crumbling around you. Get used to it, it happens a lot.”

“But.. Does that mean..?” Sans didn’t want to say it.

“That I remember countless timelines of being murdered by various people I thought of as friends? Yes. That I remember timelines where you committed suicide? Yes.” The taller felt bad for the bluntness, but couldn’t be bothered. He faked too much. Let Sans be sad.  
  
“How did you not go insane?”   
  
“Well, from what you remember, there were plenty of instances where I let myself go mildly insane. Horror timelines, dust timelines.” Papyrus said this in a tone that one would use to answer the question ‘what time is it?’.

“From what I remember? What do you mean? I remember everything.”  
  
“Oh, you remember… what is it? One thousand four hundred and nine?”   
  
“O-One thousand four hundred and twenty three, actually.” Sans didn’t know where this was going.   
  
“Close enough. Anyway, there’ve been one thousand eight hundred and forty seven timelines, not counting this one.” Papyrus sighed.

“You can’t be my Paps.”  
  
“Nope. Very much your Papyrus.”   
  
“N-No. You aren't. Prove it.”   
  
“I could, in theory, prove it, but it would include quite a bit of awkwardness and embarrassment.”

“How so?” 

Sans didn’t know how he wasn’t freaking out. His best friend and crush knew everything. How wasn’t he going insane? He should be. Everything is screwed over. I mean, holy shit. He killed his crush, and his crush REMEMBERED. What chances did he have? 

“Quit sulking.” Papyrus cut into his spiral.  
  
“Sorry.” Sans looked down. 

They were a good five feet away from each other, but Papyrus closed most of the gap, teleporting in front of Sans. “I could give you all your memories back.”  
  
“That implies they were taken from me.”

“Yep.”  
  
Sans looked up at Papyrus and froze for a moment. They were barely six inches apart, and Sans could notice the darkness under the younger’s eyes. He took a deep breath. “Who took my memories?”   
  
“Me. Who else?”   
  
“I- I don’t know. Maybe Dream or something?” Sans actually didn’t know who he thought would’ve taken them. He froze when he realized that Papyrus might not know about AUs.

“Yeah, no. Dream wouldn’t dare touch this timeline. It’d break the agreement with the bad guys.”  
  
“Are you saying we’re one of the negative universes?” Sans knew this deal very, very well. Ink had come to rant about it at four in the morning a few timelines ago. It was, at the very least, infuriating.

“We have an eternal genocide player, a miserable Papyrus, and a narcissistic Sans - oh, sorry. What do you think?”  
  
Sans was silent, and looked at the ground.   
  
“What’s wrong?” He didn’t like Sans being quiet. He wasn’t used to it. Seems he lost his filter too.

He looked up at Papyrus. “Do you… Do you still think I’m second greatest?” The taller knew he wasn’t imagining the blue on his cheekbones.  
  
“Nope.” Sans’ face fell. “You’re first greatest.” Sans smiled again, genuinely, and Papyrus sighed in relief.

“Are you blushing?” Sans sounded minorly confused.

“I- uh-” It was easier to avoid the question. “Look. Do you want the memories back or not?”

“Uh.. Yeah. Sure.”  
  
“Alright. This might hurt. And if I pass out, don’t worry. I’m not used to giving memories, only stealing them. Stealing takes less power, funnily enough.”   
  
“O-Okay..” Sans looked at the ground again, probably worried about what he was about to see. Papyrus didn’t blame him. He’d be scared too. Papyrus teleported the two home, Sans on Papyrus’ bed and Papyrus sitting at his desk, glancing at the neatly organized action figures.   
  
“Ready?” Papyrus summoned the code in front of him and went into Sans’ deleted files.

“Mhm.”

Reloading memory files. Undo?

>Yes No  
  
“FUCK!!” Blue tears welled up in Sans’ eye sockets.

Yes >No

“I told you it was going to hurt.” Papyrus paused, but walked to the shorter and sat next to him, gently hugging his best friend.

“I-It hurts..” He hugged back tightly, grabbing at his battle body and burning his face in the younger's chest.

God, Papyrus was worried about how he’d react to remembering.. That timeline. The perfect timeline. He nearly drifted into a daydream about it, but swallowed. No, he needed to help Sans. 

He tried his best to send calming messages, SOUL-to-SOUL, but having half a SOUL hindered the attempts. No, his only other option was to borrow some of the pain. He really, really didn’t want to, but.. He sighed. The things he did in the name of love.

He winced. No wonder the shorter one was crying and shouting. Just a little bit was enough to make him want to give up. _I can’t though_. He checked his SOUL behind Sans. He was draining his magic far too much, but he needed to make sure Sans was okay. A light red color was slowly filling up his SOUL as the pain increased, and the other traits were fleeing to Flowey’s half. 

_Fuck. Ow. I hope this doesn’t seep into Flowey’s half._

After what felt like forever, Sans calmed down a bit and Papyrus slowly deposited the light red in his own SOUL. Bit by bit, the purple, black, and orange seeped back into his SOUL. As he drifted off, Papyrus kissed his love’s forehead. 


	8. What to choose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus has a breakdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some depressed shit- Honestly, if you get triggered by that stuff (suicide, depression, self-hatred), you should probably leave-

“Sans? Sans, you awake?” Sans slowly woke up, looking groggily at his brother, who was wearing a yellow sweatshirt and black jeans, along with his signature boots and scarf.

“Ngh.. My head..” He slowly remembered what happened.   
  
“Yes, I probably should’ve done it slowly. I was careless.” Papyrus walked up to Sans and sat next to the bed, leaning towards Sans. “Did it work?”   
  
“I remember.. I remember timelines where you.. Where you committed….” Sans looked away slightly. “Don’t do that again, please. I care about you.”   
  
“Yeah. I know, Sans.” Papyrus hooked a finger under Sans’ chin to make him look up. He nearly laughed when he was greeted by a skull that was rapidly turning blue.

“D-Don’t laugh! You surprised me!!” Sans looked away. 

He was acting like before, like during the perfect timeline.. Papyrus felt magic behind his eye sockets. Fuck, he was going to cry.

“I’ll be right back. Gotta call.. Undyne.” He quickly backed away, out of the room, and went into the bathroom. He locked the door and curled up, purple tears streaming down his face.

Stars. He loved him. He missed this. Missed interactions like this, missed being able to show even the slightest bit of affection. He mumbled incoherent curses, burying his sobs into his scarf. They were so close to happiness. Since Sans knew that Papyrus remembered, they would continue to be in a relationship. It could be perfect.

_ Was it selfish to take it away now? No, it was selfish to give the memories to him in the first place. _

He stared at the grooves in the tile, looked at the room he had spent many a breakdown in. The shower took up half the room (although it was only slightly larger than average), the toilet that nobody understood owning (due to the simple fact that monsters don’t need to go to the bathroom), and the small sink, its only cabinet containing a single knife.   
  
That knife belonged to Sans. Papyrus had come across the object one timeline, and… He adjusted his sleeves, pulling them over his hands. No. Not today.

He sighed. How does anyone do this? He couldn’t decide.   
  
This was the PLAYER’s fault.  _ Theirfaulttheirfaulttheirfaulttheirfaulttheirfaulttheirfaulttheir- _

He needed to stop. Stop thinking about them right now. Until.. He thought for a moment. The human would fall in two days. There was no telling whether the human would be a red-eyed one or a black-eyed one. He was hoping for red eyes. That would mean he’d be on the surface. He could postpone his choice.

_ Am I so pathetic I can’t choose? I bet Sans would know what to do in my position. He’s actually smart. _ He paused at that, smiling softly.  _ One of the reasons I love him. _

_ Stars, what to choose. _

He wondered if he could ask his friends. Flowey would tell him directly; no cushioning, just exactly what he should do. Alphys would do whatever she could to make her ship sail, meaning let him remember. He pulled out his phone to message Alphys, then saw the time.   
  
12:49.   
  
Fuck. If he called Undyne to skip training, she’d probably kick the door in to drag him to her house. If he went.. He didn’t like to think about the wounds he has had to heal after their training. She’s always been like this.  _ But the Great Papyrus dealt with it. So I have to. _ _   
_   
He sighed heavily, wiping his eyes. He let himself gain his composure for a moment before unlocking the door, stepping out to stand next to his room. 

He shouted, not to be Great, but to make Sans hear him. “I’M GOING TO TRAIN WITH UNDYNE.” Annoyed, he mumbled. “I might even ‘accidentally’ dust her.”   
  
“M’kay.” He heard Sans’ voice, muffled through the door. He smiled and left the house.   
  
He decided not to teleport. He had already used enough power the night before, and he needed to save what was left for Undyne. He had to admit, in the reverse dust timelines, he took pleasure in killing her. It kinda creeped him out.

_ Then again, she deserves it. _

Stars, he had the depressed thoughts, and then he had these. He didn’t know what to do with either. He didn’t know what to do with anything. He wished he knew. Wished so many things. He sighed. Everything would be fine if the human had red eyes. Then Frisk would have all the answers.   
  
He refused to think about what would happen if the eyes were black.

His thoughts - or, sorry, not-thoughts - were interrupted by a certain theme. He was startled, but quickly teleported backwards. Undyne landed and had a split second to dodge. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooo boy, Undyne's gon meet a certain kind of Papyrus that she isn't used to.   
> On a separate note, I really don't know what to choose. Should Paps let Sans remember, or should he take it away?


	9. Mild sadistic tendencies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paps nearly loses it, bit of fluff cuz the skeles deserve it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paps kinda has a mini-spiral into slight madness, so-

A blue bone cut through her, and she froze. “What the hell?! Get off me!” She didn’t dare move despite her anger.

“Y’know, I’m getting really,  _ really  _ tired of your bullshit.” He grinned. “I used to let you do what you wanted; let you hurt me, fracture my bones, chip away at them, but you want to know something I’ve really wanted to say?”

“T-That you’re pathetic and whoever gave birth to you should be ashamed of themselves?”   
  
Papyrus gave out a small giggle. “Oh, he is. But the thing I really want to say is..”   
  
Undyne yelped as everything went black.   
  
“ **Are you ready to die yet?** ”

Bones and blasters of every color flew at her and, to her credit, she got a few hits in, even cracked part of his skull, before collapsing with 2 HP left. 

“Fuck.. Trying to kill me? Guess I overestimated your kindness.” Undyne grinned, sure this would hurt Papyrus.   
  
It didn’t. When a SOUL felt a trait, the color twirled around it beautifully. Around Undyne? The beauty was as black as the void. Plus, green was a SOUL trait that left him a long,  _ long  _ time ago. And it’s not as if he’d be able to borrow the trait from Flowey (they were, indeed, able to ‘borrow’ traits. It’s how he kept his magic blue and orange around Sans before).

“So, why are you going to become a murderer?” Undyne grinned.

“I wouldn’t call it becoming a murderer. Anyway, I might let you live as long as you don’t try to touch Alphys. Don’t talk to her, or me.” Papyrus never passed up a chance to save Alphys or Flowey.

“Oh, what. Are you a yandere now?” Undyne rolled her eye. 

“No, actually. Just want to save my friend from years of regret and abuse. Not that she’d willingly date you.” He crouched, sliding a sharp bone across her cheek, slow and deep. She bit back a scream. It didn’t affect her HP, but it definitely hurt. “ **Want to test me further?** ” He heals her, smirking. 

Oh, no. He wasn't helping her. And no, he didn’t want to kill her. Not yet, at least. But he did want to hurt her, over and over. He wanted to hurt her until she gave up, until all of her traits left, leaving only the color of despair and obedience. He wanted her to suffer everything she deserved. To starve, to overheat, to eat her own dust.

A grin grew on his face as he fell further and further into sadistic madness.

“PAPYRUS!” He heard a small, angry shout from behind him.   
  
“ **What?** ” Papyrus turned sharply, glaring (metaphorical) daggers at a certain annoyed flower.

“Stop it. You’re not getting anything done by torturing fishsticks over there.” Flowey was right. The skeleton swallowed, shaking off his thoughts. 

“Yes, yes, you’re right, unfortunately.” He sighed, standing again. Undyne had a quarter of her HP back, she could heal herself. Or not. 

“Of course I am.”

“ANYWAY, DEAR UNDYNE. I BELIEVE IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT I WILL NO LONGER BE ATTENDING OUR TRAINING SESSIONS.” Papyrus said this in his old manner, but there was a hint of menace in his smile. Before she could answer, he teleported home to take care of the increasingly painful crack above his left eye socket and the bit of dust on his scarf.   
  
Papyrus froze when he saw Sans laying on the couch. 

The shorter looked up at him, then sat up, his eye sockets widening in shock. “Paps!! Are you okay?” He rushed over, carefully examining the wound.

Papyrus hugged Sans. “Hello to you too. And yes, I’m fine.” He grinned. He couldn’t skip an opportunity to embarrass Sans. “I just need food and a nap with the greatest monster in the Underground.”   
  
“P-Papyrus!!!” The taller was rewarded by a blue-tinted face. 

“Yes?”

The moment was ruined by Sans’ attentiveness. “Wait.. Is that dust on your scarf?” 

A flinch. “Possibly.”   
  
“Why?? No, who? Was it in self-defense? How did it happen? Where?” He was increasingly concerned.

Papyrus moved the two to the couch. “Hey, one question at a time.”   
  
“O-Okay. Who?”   
  
“Undyne.”   
  
“Wait,  _ what _ ? Why?!” As Sans interviewed his friend, - were they friends? - he continued examining the crack on Papyrus’ head. He was nearly on the taller’s lap.

“Eh. Years, timelines of suffering and abuse. She deserved it. I didn’t kill her.”   
  
“At least there’s that.” He continued examining the crack on Papyrus’ head. He was nearly on the taller’s lap. As he took advantage of the position, a quick kiss on the cheek caused a purple face. “Now who’s blushing?”

“Yeah, yeah. Can we take that nap?” Papyrus returned the kiss.

“Sure, Paps.”


	10. Thirty minutes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just... a shit ton of fluff. That's basically it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this one has some extreme Sans/Papyrus. So.. If you're reading this fic because of the AU or that Paps remembers, you can skip this chapter. Just know that at the end 30 minutes are left.

After the best nap he’d had for a while, Papyrus reluctantly got up and changed into another outfit consisting of a hoodie and jeans. He glanced at the still-sleeping Sans and blushed slightly.  _ Damn asshole. Why do I still love you?  _ It wasn’t a real question. He knew why. Because Sans was perfect in every single way. He was smart, he was strong, he was talented, and most of all, he helped Papyrus see the good in himself.    
  
The taller sighed and kissed the older’s forehead, resisting the urge to just wake him up so they could use every moment possible to enjoy the last day before the human arrived. Instead, he went out to the living room to make ANYTHING that wasn’t spaghetti and grab some alcohol and ketchup from Grillby’s. Anything to see Sans smile.

Once Papyrus got back, made eggs and bacon, and set the table, he went upstairs to wake Sans up. He gently shook the shorter awake, greeting him with hugs and kisses. Sans grinned lazily and the younger rolled his eyelights and pulled him up. “C’mon, Sans. I made food.”   
  
“Please tell me it’s not spaghetti.” Sans looked up at his.. Best friend? Lover? Boyfriend? - with begging eye sockets.    
  
“It’s not. It’s proper breakfast, now that I can do that without outing myself as aware.” Lots and lots of affection. Snuggles, hugs, kisses, the works. It was probably the best morning either had had for a long time.

The rest of the day was filled with love, affection, jokes (by both sides), and general making out. 

**\---**

There were 4 hours left. 

Both skeletons were worried, and barely left each other's sight. They may or may not have done some.. Slightly-less-than-holy things (NO, they did NOT sleep together), but mostly they just cuddled and showed next-level affection.   


Papyrus was having extreme doubts about deleting Sans’ memories. He’d debated over it. Possibly revealing he knew without the memories.. Then he could somehow confess, be touch-starved, and Sans wouldn’t know. Maybe give him the perfect timeline, but that’s it? The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. 

He sighed.   
  
“What’s wrong, Paps?” Concern laced his.. Lover’s voice, and Papyrus smiled softly.  _ He cares so much. _

“Nothing. Just thinking, love.” He froze. He didn’t allow that word to come out, not consciously at least.

Sans froze for a slightly different reason. His face warmed rapidly. “W-What?”   
  
“I- Erm.. I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong.” His eyelights flickered.  _ What the hell did I just say?! _

“I- Y-Yeah. Fine. Yep. Right.”    
  
After the taller recovered, Sans received a gentle kiss on the cheek. Papyrus had decided he liked this nickname. “Yep. Fine, love.”    
  
Sans let out a noise that sounded like a dying seagull. “I- Uh- W-Well- Erm.”

A loud, repetitive noise cut through the moment. The two had set up an alarm to go off about 30 minutes before the human usually left the RUINS. 

A pause. “Hey, Sans?”   
  
“Yeah?”   
  
“No matter what happens, know that I love you. Okay?” He blushed slightly. It was true. He loved him with everything he had.   
  
“..Y-Yeah. Love ya too, Paps.” The two sat next to each other for a short bit. They were scared of meeting the human.   



	11. Human.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We figure out which human it is. Also, fluff.

Both skeletons were talking at Sans’ sentry station. Sans was sitting on the table, facing the inside of the station, where Papyrus was sitting on a chair. The two were sharing a whiskey bottle.

That’s how the human came across them. They seemed surprised.

“ **Eyes open, human.** ” Papyrus was the first to see them.    
  
The eyes opened, and the two sighed in relief. Red. “Aight, hey kiddo.”    
  
“Hi, Frisk!” Papyrus grinned. Frisk could tell he needed something, but she decided to wait.   
  
“Hello, you two!” She smiled.   
  
Sans slid onto Papyrus’ lap and the taller one looked very,  _ very  _ unimpressed. “Really, Sans?”   
  
“You’re comfyyy.” Sans wrapped an arm around Papyrus’ neck.   
  
“Are you two..?” Frisk tilted her head.   
  
“Yep.” Sans nuzzled his datemate.   
  
“But you’re brothers! That’s incest!”   
  
The skeletons froze, then burst out laughing.   
  
“Uhm..?” Frisk looked confused.   
  
“Nada, kiddo. Grew up together, yeah, but just best friends.”   
  
“Until now.” Papyrus wrapped his arms around his lover.   
  
“Y-Yep. Until now.” Sans blushed.   
  
“Well, that’s adorable.” Frisk grinned.

“S-Speaking of, may I talk to you privately?” Papyrus looked down slightly.

“Of course!”    
  
Papyrus teleported them to the forest. “I.. I gave him his memories and I don’t know if I should take them back next RESET and get a better ending.” He said it all very quickly, but Frisk understood him.   
  
“That’s.. Difficult. I’d probably take them.” She looked up at Papyrus.   
  
“That’s what I was thinking. Maybe give him the perfect timeline, tell him I remember timelines, confess somehow. But.. Stars, I don’t know.”   
  
“After the RESET, act on your first instinct.”   
  
“O.. Okay.”   
  
“Anything else?”   
  
“No, that was it.”   
  
“Well, we should get back.”   
  
Papyrus teleported them back to the station. “Hello again, love~”   
  
“Don’t you fucking dare call me that again.” Sans’ face flushed blue.   
  
“Aww, why not?You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

Frisks made a noise of shock. “He’s not a bean!”

“Yeah, that’s becoming more and more evident.” Sans stared at the snow, blushing.

“C’monnn. I want a kiss.”    
  
“N-No!!! There is a child!” Sans’ blue face darkens.

“Why?? I wanna!”    
  
“Nooo!”   
  
“Okay then. Later.”   
  
“F-Fine..” Sans mumbles.

“Yay!” Papyrus grins, having won.

“I’ll just leave so you two can make out.” Frisk smirks and wanders off.   
  
“Wait! No! Don’t leave me heree!” Sans tries to run after her, but the younger pulled him back onto his lap.    
  
“No. Mine.” Papyrus kissed Sans’ cheek.

“Y-Yours?!” Sans’ face went the darkest blue Papyrus had ever seen.   
  
“Mhm. My skeleton.” Papyrus nuzzled Sans’ neck.   
  
“Stop itt. You’re embarrassing mee!” He buried his face in his hands.   
  
“I love you. You’re mine, and I’m yours.”

“M-Mhm. I love you too.”    
  
Papyrus smiled, kissing Sans gently. Sans eventually kissed back after attempting to fight him in embarrassment. After a teensy bit of making out, the taller pulled away, Sans against a wooden pole of the station. 

Papyrus coughs awkwardly, blushing. “W-We should probably get going to tell fishsti - ImeanUndyne - about Frisk.”    
  
“Isn’t.. Isn’t that Flowey’s nickname for her?”   
  
“Erm. Possibly.” Papyrus avoided eye contact,

“ **How do you know the weed?** ”

Ah. Fantastic. Sans is angry. 


	12. Half of the Culmination of Your Being

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It kinda goes all over the place. I'll probably fix it later.

“W-Well.. Erm. One second.” Papyrus quickly walked into the forest. Sans attempted to follow him, but the footprints vanished suddenly. He had teleported.  
  
Papyrus had teleported to the lab, shouting for Alphys. He saw that Flowey was in a small patch of dirt in the floor (Papyrus had a similar hole in the small basement-like area under his room (if Sans got a secret room, it was only fair for Papyrus to have one too)).   
  
“Oh. Hey, Papyrus.” Flowey looked up at him.   
  
“H-Hey, Paps. What’s wr-wrong?” Alphys left the ‘bathroom’, brushing her coat off.

"Ah. 'Sup, M." A certain skeleton with a hole in his skull was slouching in a chair. 

"Hey, Horror. Don't have time to talk." Papyrus turned away from the cannibal.

"Ouch. That's _cold_."  
  
“Sans found out about Flowey and I don’t know what to do.” He sat on the chair beside the desk covered in random notes.   
  
The others jumped, heads snapping over to look at Papyrus. He may have let many things slip in the timelines, but he always managed to keep everyone a secret. _Always_ .   
  
“How the hell did he manage to figure that out?!” Flowey looked mildly concerned.   
  
“..I called Undyne fish sticks.”   
  
“That’s.. Kinda a sad way to out 'im.” Horror chuckled.   
  
“Yes, yes, I know. Now can you come help me, Flowey? I don’t know how to describe it. He asked how I know you, and I panicked. How do I answer that?!” Papyrus sank in the chair, feeling helpless.

“Y-You could have j-just said you w-were friends.” Alphys looked at the tallest in the room.  
  
“Yes, but he’d probably freak out and I don’t want to deal with that shit alone.” Papyrus shrugged.   
  
Alphys walked over to the large screen she had. “A-Anyway, I assume F-Frisk is the one down here?”   
  
“Fortunately. PLAYER’s been gone for a while though. It’s worrying.” Papyrus sighed, concerned.

"Ah, your timeline isn't goin' to shit right now. Good to hear." Everyone ignored Horror.  
  
“It really is. They’re bound to arrive sooner or later.” Flowey crossed his leaves.   
  
“S-Sans is at h-his sentry station near S-Snowdin. H-He looks shocked.” The scientist was looking at the screen. “Y-You should go explain s-sooner rather t-than later.”   
  
“Yes, you’re right. Flowey?” The non-cannibalistic skeleton sat up.   
  
“Fine. I’ll meet you there.” The buttercup sighed.   
  
“Bye, Alphys. See ya later, Horror.” Papyrus waved at Alphys, then teleported into a tree near Sans’ station, jumping down.   
  
He paused, taking a deep breath, before walking the short distance to the poorly-built structure.   
  
“Hello again, Sans.” He attempted a smile, but failed and quickly gave up.

“Where did you go?” The shorter glared up at Papyrus.  
  
“To talk to my friend.”   
  
“The weed?”   
  
“Yes, me. He wanted me to come here.” The buttercup popped out of the ground, shaking snow off of his petals.   
  
“Hello, Flowey!” Papyrus smiled.   
  
“Hey, Paps.”   
  
“So you have _nicknames_ now?!” Sans was evidently pissed.   
  
“Yeah. I mean, he did help me a while ago. We were friends before that, but I started caring about him then.” Flowey rolled his eyes.   
  
“You _can’t care about him._ You’re a SOULless being.”   
  
“If he can’t care, neither can I.” Papyrus was leaning against the sentry post, getting more and more annoyed.   
  
“That’s not how it works, Paps. He has no SOUL. You have a SOUL.”   
  
“Correction. He has half a SOUL. As I said, if he can’t care, I can’t either.”   
  
“...What?”   
  
_Shit. Why did I say that?_ _  
_ _  
_ “Well, it looks like he’s beating himself up, so I’ll answer your question. We basically share a SOUL.”   
  
“W-What?!”


	13. I've run out of titles, try again later.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SOULs and a bit of the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of abuse.

***Papyrus** **  
****  
*****Check.**

 ***Papyrus** **  
*****LV2** **  
*****320HP/640HP** **  
*****AT 4 DF 1** **  
*****Slightly panicking.**

 **  
**Sans gasped quietly when he saw the younger skeleton’s (white, due to it being a STAT check, not a SOUL check) SOUL, then turned to Flowey.  
  
 ***Flowey** **  
****  
*****Check.** **  
****  
*****Flowey** **  
*****LV2** **  
*****320HP/640HP** **  
*****AT 4 DF 1** **  
*****Telling the truth.**  
  
A pause.  
  
“You told him to. Y-You manipulated him. That’s the only explanation.” Sans’ breath was shaky.  
  
“Don’t blame my friends for things they didn’t do.” Papyrus finally spoke up.  
  
“Then _why_ ?”  
  
“Because he would care.”  
  
“Did you get corrupted with hate?!”  
  
“Believe it or not, my main trait isn’t hatred.” Flowey interjected.  
  
Papyrus let Flowey’s initial traits flow back to the flower, and the buttercup got the message and did the same for the tallest.  
  
“You can Check. We’ve gotten our own traits back.”  
  
 **_PING!_ ** **_  
_** **_  
_** **_*Flowey_ ** **_  
_** **_  
_** **_*SOUL_ ** **_  
_** **_  
_** Flowey’s SOUL was majority orange, with some blue, yellow, and, of course, a bit of black.  
  
 **_PING!_ ** **_  
_** **_  
_** **_*Papyrus_ ** **_  
_** **_  
_** **_*SOUL_ ** **_  
_** **_  
_** And Papyrus’ was majority purple, with some orange, black, the tiniest sliver of green, and three colors Sans had never seen before in a SOUL.  
  
“What.. _are_ those? I’ve never.. What?”  
  
One was a dark, blue-purple. Not dull; that would indicate lethargy. Another was a dark, dull cyan. The final was a deep dull pink. There was a _lot_ of pink. Nearly as much as the purple that indicated perseverance.

“Uh.. Those would be falsehood, indecision, and deceit. I borrowed the lab in one timeline to figure it out.” Papyrus was sweating a bit. He was concealing a bit of the truth. He hadn’t borrowed the lab. Alphys ran a few tests on him when she found out. But Sans didn’t have to know that.  
  
“Which is which?” Beyond being concerned about the SOUL, he was also a nerd. If Sans found something new, he _needed_ to know as much as possible.  
  
“Cyan is falsehood, pink is indecision, and purple is deceit.”  
  
“How did you know about SOULs to run those tests yourself?”

For this question, the taller had a truthful answer. “Eh. Had to Check it when we were younger. I had taken quite a beating, and you were busy practicing magic.”  
  
“Asshole being..” Sans was shocked. Papyrus remembers him too.  
  
“Yes. Asshole being good ol’ Dr. Gaster.”  
  
“What do you mean ‘took a beating’? I know he was abusive, but I never saw him hurt you.” The older tilted his head.  
  
 _All the secrets are coming out anyway, might as well_ . “Eh, never let you see because you wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him.”  
  
“What had happened that day?” Sans stepped towards Papyrus slightly. Flowey left, getting bored and not wanting to be there to witness whatever lovey-dovey shit was going to happen.

“Erm.. Nearly broke both of my legs. Had a hairline fracture in my right femur, nearly shattered my left fibula. Only reason I was able to keep walking was ‘cause of my healing magic.”  
  
“Stars, Paps. I’m so sorry.” Both had been slowly inching towards each other.  
  
Flowey was right. There was _plenty_ of affection afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning on the next chapter being the start of some flashback stuff that'll take up a few chapters, so watch out for that.


	14. Past and Timeline Variation 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things from when they were kids, along with the first timeline that wasn't pacifist/genocide. They're really short flashbacks, so know that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first flashback is a scene of abuse, so be warned.

**_Many years earlier_ **

“S-Sir?! What are you doing?!” A small skeleton cowered in the corner.

“You didn’t follow my instructions, E2. I told you to try to attack the dummy. ‘Attack’ does not imply talking to it.” He growled. 

“I- I’m sorry! It won’t happen again, I promise!”  
  
“You're smart enough to know that, at least. It won’t happen again, because you’ll learn the consequences.”    
  
“P-Please don’t come n-near me, sir!”   
  
“No, I’m taking advantage of the fact that your fellow failure isn’t here, and therefore cannot protect you.”    
  
“B-But sir!!! P-”   
  
_Crack._ _  
_ _  
_ A scream. “I-I’M SORRY! PLEASE S-STO-”   
  
_Crunch._ _  
_ _  
_ Footsteps walked away. The small skeleton only heard these footsteps; the combination of tears and dizzying pain made it hard to see.   
  
After a few minutes, the skeleton could concentrate enough to use green magic, healing the fracture and almost-shattered fibula. The fragile thing was able to stand. It was in pain, and it nearly fell to its knees again due to the amount of pain. The small being slowly limped to the examination room, where one could check a SOUL and recover quickly.

**_A few years later_ **

“So, E2. We need to find new names for us, now that the doc’s gone.”  
  
“Mm.. Sans!” The slightly taller skeleton pointed at the older.   
  
“I’m Sans?”   
  
“Mhm!”   
  
“Well.. Hm. Then you’re Papyrus.”   
  
“The Great Papyrus!” The younger giggled.

“Yep.”

**_A few months later_ **

  
  
“The closest thing I’ve found in the books are brothers. I’m not 100% sure what it means, but it seems pretty close to our relationship.” A lazy grin, looking up at the younger who suddenly shot up like a rocket. He was two heads taller now.   
  
“B-Bro-BROTHER!”   
  
“Yeah. Brother.”

**_Variation number 1_**

“SANS! YOU NEED TO EAT MORE OF MY SPAGHETTI. YOU CAN BARELY CONTROL YOUR HUNGER. YOU’LL HURT THE POOR HUMAN!” This timeline was terrible. So, so terrible.   
  
“Nah bro, I’m fine. The kid’s gotta eat anyway. Skin ‘n bones an’ all that.”   
  
“WELL.. OKAY. I SUPPOSE YOU’RE RIGHT. BUT EAT A FEW MORE BITES, PLEASE?”   
  
“Like I said, I’m fine.”

  
  
**_Two days later_ **

  
  
“I _TOLD_ YOU TO EAT, BROTHER.” Annoyance. Why didn’t he eat? Aliza was their only chance of getting out of this hellhole. Then they would go to the surface and…   
  
On second thought, maybe it was better to _not_ go to the surface.   
  
“I know, I know. You were right, bro. I’m sorry.”   
  
“THE HUMAN CANT EAT MY SPAGHETTI IF YOU KEEP TRYING TO KILL HER. YOU NEED TO EAT MORE.”

The shorter sighs. “Alright. I will, Paps.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2nd variation and how Papyrus met Horror (featuring Ink).

**_A few timelines after_ **

Stars, why had he thought that the Hunger timeline was bad? This was so much worse. His brother had killed him.  
  
No, of course Papyrus didn’t leave Sans!!! Why would he _ever_ do that? He would never leave his brother, or whatever they were. So he stuck around as a phantom.

Imagine his surprise when, for the first time in _any_ timeline, Sans actually saw him.

“No. You’re- You’re not real!” Sans hadn’t taken it well at first.  
  
“I am. I’m here, Sans.”   
  
“P-Prove it. Can you use magic..?”

  
  
**_Ping!_ **

Sans grinned. “Yep. I’m blue now, yeah?”  
  
“You are.” The other let Sans out of the blue attack. “So yes, I’m here and real.”   
  
“..Glad to have you back.”   
  
“Wouldn’t have left you for anything, Sans.”

“I’m sorry for..”  
  
“I know, Sans. I know.”

**_Quite a few timelines (Disbelief, Reverse Dust (papyrus murders everyone), DustBelief timelines) later_ **

This was another variation.  
  
 _Who are they?_ _  
_ _  
_ _They look like we did during the Hunger timeline._ _  
_   
“Uh.. Hello.”   
  
“H-HELLO?” _Do I let my façade drop? No, it’d be best not to, for now._

“I’m Sans. Though, I guess you have a Sans?” The odd one shrugged.   
  
“ERM.. YES.”   
  
“Well, I’m from an alternate universe. An AU, or alternate universe, is-”   
  
Papyrus cut him off. “YES, I KNOW WHAT THOSE ARE. ALPHYS HAS TOLD ME ABOUT THEM.”   
  
“So.. What AU is this? It sure as hell ain’t the Classic timeline.”

“I DON-” _Fuck it._ “Not sure. We know we aren’t the original timeline, but stars know what we are.”   
  
“Alright. I’ll tell Ink I found a new universe. Gimme a sec.”   
  
“..Okay?” This was odd. Very, very odd. 

The other Sans walked up to a shelf, and grabbed a paint can, throwing it to the ground.  
  
“The hell are you doing? Alphys will be back any minute now, and I don’t want to have to explain a paint puddle in her lab.”   
  
A rainbow-y Sans came out of the paint (conveniently making the puddle vanish). “WHO SUMMONED- Wait, _Horror_ ? Why did you-”   
  
Horror pointed at Papyrus. “New variation, or AU, or something. Need to know its name so I can report it to the boss. Also so I know what to call this.. Thing.”

“Hm. Let me try to check his STATs.” When Ink said this, Papyrus took a step back.  
  
“Uh.. Excuse me? Why?”

“I need to figure out what AU this is. I’m the protector, so I can see what AU it is in a stat check.”  
  
“Okay?”

  
  
***Papyrus**

***Check**

***Papyrus**

***MemoryTale**

***LV2**

***320HP/640HP**

***AT 4 DF 1**

“Why’re your STATs so low? Everything’s halved or somethin’.” Ink, who let out a gasp at the white representation of the SOUL presented to him, was blocking Horror’s view of the SOUL.  
  
“Yes. Everything is halved.”   
  
“WHY IS YOUR SOUL LIKE THAT?!” Papyrus startled at Ink’s shouting (also at his eyes changing shape and color).

“Whatcha-” Horror teleported a bit closer. “Oh, shit.”

"WHY??"

“Uh.. Split it with someone.” Papyrus had no clue _what_ was going on.

“Anyway, I guess we call this Papyrus Memory?” Horror tilted his head, drumming his fingers on the side of his leg.

“Sans would want to know why my name was Memory if he overheard.”

“Why _is_ your AU called MemoryTale?” Ink’s eyes changed again.

“Eh. Probably me.” Papyrus gave a slightly lazy shrug, then went to sit in a chair.  
  
“How so?”   
  
“For one, I remember. Second, I make sure Sans _doesn’t_ remember certain timelines.”   
  
“How do ya manage that?” Horror sat in a chair a few feet away from Papyrus.

“Code.” The other two let out noises of minor shock. “Not sure why, but I figured out how to get into the memory files. This timeline’s different because I gave them back. I’ll take them again next timeline, though.” Papyrus didn't know why he was telling these two all of this, but they didn’t seem dangerous.

“Why are you takin ‘em back?”  
  
“Too many shitty timelines. It’d be better for all involved if he didn’t remember being murdered by me.”   
  
“Oh, damn. So you have a lot of the alternate timelines in your universe.”   
  
“It’s why I was so confused when you showed up. Had no clue why Sans from the Hunger timeline had showed up all of a sudden.”

“Hunger timeline, huh?” Ink laughed. The name made it sound like HungerTale. “Well, the official name for it is the Horror timeline, or if it’s the AU, HorrorTale.”

“Yeah, that’s far more accurate.”  
  
“Anyway, back to names. If not Memory, maybe M?” Horror steered them back to the previous topic.   
  
“Sure. M.”


	16. Author's note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not part of the story. An authors note.

I'm not one to do author's notes. I normally hate them. But I'm going to let it slide for a sec.

I just looked at the hits and kudos on this book. This is my first time posting this AU into the world (and my first time posting a fanfic for 2+ years), so I'm mildly (okay, a bit more than mildly) intimidated. 

354 people have read this thing (or at least have come to visit).

THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR. 

So many people expecting things of me-

I'm not going to stop writing.

But.. wow. Thanks for... yeah. Thanks.


	17. RESET

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff and mild angst. By mild I mean very, VERY mild.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While we’ve been going over the past, a lot has happened since when we left off.  
> Frisk finished the run. Everyone was on the surface. Asgore and Undyne had gone to jail, as per usual.  
> Then you had to go and ruin it.  
> Oh, also, when you RESET, Papyrus took away Sans’ memories again. Gave him the perfect timeline, but none of Papyrus' slipups.

**_~For context, read the notes~_ **

Papyrus woke up, and knew PLAYER was back. He stood, nearly hitting his table out of annoyance. 

Fuck.

He let out a short, annoyed shout, not really saying anything. He heard a thump from the other room.

They’re fucking back again.

He sighed, walking out of his room to see an extremely annoyed Sans. He knew too.

Papyrus didn’t even have the energy to pretend. He just walked downstairs, sat on the couch, and let out an annoyed groan.

“Uh.. Paps? You okay?” Sans, of course, wasn’t expecting this.. complete lack of enthusiasm. 

“Yep. Peachy. Just annoyed.” The taller gave a sarcastic thumbs-up.

“Do you..?”

“Mhm. Fuck, this is going to be a long timeline.” Papyrus ran his hand down his face, attempting to wake himself up fully. 

“No shit.” The shorter paused. “If you remember, that means you remember.. Er.. that timeline?” He was obviously referring to the perfect timeline.

“Yyyyyyyep.”

“So..?”

“Sure.”

“Okay then.”

They sat in a mildly embarrassed silence. The older eventually gained the courage to go sit beside the taller, leaning on Papyrus’ shoulder. Each skeleton was slightly blushing their respective color.

The younger drew his legs up to his chest. “What should we do in the next few days?”

“Is sleeping an option?” The two laughed, even though it wasn’t funny.

“Honestly? Why the fuck not. Don’t have much else to do.” Papyrus shifted, laying down on the couch, head resting against the armrest. 

The older laughed. “That doesn’t look comfortable.”

“Then ‘shortcut’ us to one of our rooms.”

“Us?” Sans’ face flushed blue.

“Yep. If we’re sleeping, at the very least I want cuddles.” Papyrus, admittedly, was touch starved, but also didn’t let many people touch him. It was an awkward combo.

“I- uh- okay.” Sans looked away, teleporting the two to Papyrus’ bed. Sans was sitting on the edge whilst Papyrus was laying sideways. The shorter slowly gave into the younger’s begging eyes, laying down facing his.. Datemate? Exact labels were to be decided later.

Papyrus wrapped his arm around the older, pulling the other skeleton closer. “Night, Sans.”

“N-Night.”


End file.
